Chen Mingyu (陈明玉), a rights-defense advocate from Huashi Village, Lianglu Town, Yubei District, Chongqing, is serving a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence after a 2025 trial in Chongqing.
Path to advocacy
According to a record in the Prisoners of Conscience database, Chen became a rights advocate after her brother’s death: in 1995 her brother Chen Minghua died after a clash involving police officers, and the authorities forcibly cremated his body and withheld his ashes. She and her family petitioned without result for years. In 2014, the home she shared with her brother’s widow was demolished by the local subdistrict office, after which she petitioned repeatedly and was subjected to pressure from local stability-maintenance personnel.
The case
On May 20, 2024, Chen joined a dinner with other Chongqing rights advocates marking the inauguration of ROC(Taiwan) President Lai Ching-te (赖清德). Afterward, several attendees were summoned or detained by the authorities; Chen was taken into custody on July 4, 2024. She was criminally detained, formally arrested, and indicted.
On the afternoon of March 26, 2025, the Yubei District Court in Chongqing tried Chen on the charge of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” (寻衅滋事罪). The evidence presented by the authorities, as reported by the independent Chinese-language rights outlet 民生观察 (Civil Rights & Livelihood Watch), included her protest against alleged gas-meter fraud by a Chongqing gas company, a dinner welcoming the newly released Liu Fuxiang, the May 2024 inauguration dinner, and coverage of her case in overseas media. The court sentenced her to two years and six months in prison. Chen declared in court that she did not accept the verdict and would appeal; she maintained that all the conduct attributed to her was consistent with the constitution and the law. Her son, Yuan Chang, attended the trial.
Chen’s sentence term runs through May 19, 2027. She has been reported as transferred to Jiangbei Prison (江北监狱) in Chongqing to serve the sentence.
Status
As of August 2026, Chen was listed among the mainland prisoners classified as currently in custody, with her two-and-a-half-year term still running. No release has been reported.
Note: she is not the 宇-character 陈明宇 — a different person, excluded from this profile.
Further reading: Chen Mingyu (陈明玉) — Media Profile & Archive